Liu Yongfu
| Liu Yongfu |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
10 October 1837 Qinzhou, Guangdong (now Qinzhou, Guangxi) |
| Died | January 1917 Qinzhou, Guangdong (now Qinzhou, Guangxi) |
| Allegiance | China |
| Battles/wars |
Battle of Paper Bridge Battle of Phủ Hoài Battle of Palan Sơn Tây Campaign Capture of Hưng Hóa Siege of Tuyên Quang Battle of Hòa Mộc Siege of Tainan |
Liu Yongfu (Chinese: 劉永福; pinyin: Liú Yǒngfú; Wade–Giles: Liu Yung-fu; Vietnamese: Lưu Vĩnh Phúc) (1837–1917) was a Chinese soldier of fortune and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) he established a close friendship with the Chinese statesman and general Tang Ching-sung, and in 1895 he helped Tang organise resistance to the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. He succeeded Tang as the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).
Liu Yongfu was born on 10 October 1837 in the town of Qinzhou (Ch'in-chou, 欽州) in southern China, close to the Vietnamese border. Qinzhou, now in Guangxi province, was at that time in the extreme southwest of Guangdong province. The ancestral home of Liu's family was the village of Popai in Guangxi province, and when he was eight his parents moved to Shangsizhou (Shang-ssu-chou, 上思州) in Guangxi. Liu's family was poor, living by manual work for others, and was only just able to scrape a living. In 1857 Liu joined a local militia force commanded by Wu Yuanqing (Wu Yuan-ch'ing, 吳元清), who claimed to hold a commission from the Taipings.
The fall of Nanking and the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1864 altered Liu's prospects dramatically for the worse. Imperial forces gradually began to reassert their control over southwest China, and it was only a matter of time before they secured Guangxi province. To escape their vengeance, Liu needed to make himself sufficiently powerful to give the Imperial generals pause. His first step was to buy some time by retreating into the mountains of northern Tonkin. In 1868 he abandoned Wu Yuanqing's rebels and crossed into Vietnam with a force of 200 soldiers whose loyalty he could trust. He had dreamed as a youth that he would one day become a famous 'General of the Black Tiger', and christened his tiny band of adventurers the Black Flag Army, heiqi jun (hei-ch'i chun, 黑旗軍). The Black Flags marched slowly through northern Tonkin, recruiting men to their standard as they went, and eventually set up camp just outside Son Tay, on the northern bank of the Red River.
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